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Maravilla, How are you doing with the sale of your home? I’m in real estate in NYC and boy things are sitting. Just taking the temperature in another part of the country. We have friends in the Santa Barbara area of California who have been trying to sell a home they bought for investment and it’s been on the market about 4 months. My sister tells me things are pretty slow in the west palm beach area of Florida as well.
I would like to add that even if Scott was getting a commission( I assumed he was) whats the problemo? Why call his integrity into question just because he is being paid?
Big myth…less than 1% have rabies and there has only been one case of rabies in Costa Rica in the last 30 years.
I have met a few people who have done the trip. Two guys who stayed in our hotel and whom I became friends with made the trip from L.A. in a diesel suburban. They enjoyed it, but they were two young surfers just out of college. Border crossings were frustrating at times but eventually you get through. Cops will pull you over and ask for you to “pay” your ticket in cash. They often traded porn in these circumstances something another who made the trip said worked quite well. They also said this got them back on the road fairly quickly.(Sorry if you find this offensive, just what I was told). They did meet up with a group that was robbed at gun point in lower Mexico and one was pistol whipped and had his nose broken. They said Mexico had some of the most dangerous stretches on the trip. Often they would link up with others making the trip and ride caravan style. They basically said that it wasn’t so bad.
WE were up in the hills above Aluejala(sp?) last year when the 6.7 quake hit Parrita. Our little villa at the Xandari resort rocked and rolled pretty good, felt like it was going to slide down the mountain! I was comforted to remember two architects built and own the place, also there were after shocks right through breakfast. Overall there was little damage even in Parrita and the surrounding area.
Check out http://www.xandari.com this is a beautiful spa resort on a working organic coffee plantation. Also http://www.villacaletas.com is near the beach and offers beautiful wedding packages. Good Luck!!
If that works for you great..but by selling expsensive real estate to Gringos and driving up prices to catastophic levels you HURT the locals, yes you may also create jobs but then you have an elite class of westerners occupying a country of wage earners this is an unfortunate fact of free markets and you are part of that mechanism. My point is just accept it and not try too excuse your actions, i’m not judgeing you just pointing out the obvious. Regarding “surfers” in Costa rica teaching surfing, I don’t do it nor advocate it; just pointing out it exists. The developement of C.R by western builders targeting Gringos though in my humble opinion does more harm than a surfer dude making 20 bucks on a surf lesson. How many Costa Ricans can now afford to buy property in Jaco or Playa Hermosa etc..? It seems that most of the “raping” going on is Gringo on Gringo as Scott has pointed out on this site and I would agree with that. Yes there are many ways that one can examine this situation, but it is what it is. Castro had a solution to this, but thats not such a pleasant solution either…so be careful what you wish for regarding the actions of the Costa rican government.
I think you have me confused with dkt2u, I only was wondering if Maravilla may have a possible double standard when it came to Mexican illegals and American illegals…and if she does I understand that there could be some reasoning behind this as well?
Certainly good points made by both of you. Regarding Mexicans, that is great that you have been able to help so many. But the fact remains tens of thousands are “illegal” and most don’t have the resources to qualify for legal status in the U.S.,those are the ones I am refering too. Based on some of your posts in the past I believe you would not look down on a Mexican because she/he could not become legal, but continued to work and seek some help/protection from the U.S., perhaps i’m wrong? I have no plans to live permanantly in C.R., and probaly at most stay 6 months out of the year and that won’t be for another ten years. The surfers I refer to don’t own real estate, work side by side with Ticos sometimes for them. These are not people that are on a long term plan in Costa Rica and are young not retireing there. Scott this idea of taking away jobs is very subjective as you appear to be in the “real estate” biz down there and by selling and promoting propery in Costa Rica to Americans/Canadiens you are putting entire areas of the C.R. real Estate out of reach for 1000’s of Ticos. Some will benefit by this developement but the majority will be hurt and continue to be margenelised. I am one of those Buying property, but I am not judgeing others, those in glass houses should not through stones as they say…I can say what I liked about Costa Rica is that it is not 100% tourist driven like a lot of the Carribean, where ugly hotels clog the beach, the wealthy foriegners own all the desirable real estate and the locals live hidden away on some far end of the island. Just some thoughts, i’m not up on a soap box here, just offering my perspective on things.
